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Back into shape, the re-deployment challenge

One of the worst aspects of a military or civilian contract deployment overseas is that you tend to stop working out or at least cut it back some. It has been this way for me my entire adult life. With numerous short and long term deployments behind me, one of the biggest challenges is to get back into the workout regime upon return. Once again I find myself in the painful position of starting over.

Anyone whose stopped running for a while knows the dread you feel prior to that first real push to work out. It’s not that you don’t like to work out it’s that you know your body will push back the first couple of times. After a six month deployment to Afghanistan and now a little over a month back stateside I begin the miserable journey back.

Today I forced myself to the local running/biking trail. The W&OD Railroad. It’s a nice paved trail that is sided by lush green trees and grass. The trail runs a total of 45 miles. I would be running a very short part of the trail.

I began slow and tapered off from there. The extra weight I’ve picked up while deployed I felt with every step. But I was happy to be outside. The weather was great for running. In the mid-60s with a slight breeze I couldn’t really ask for a better day to start.

For a Saturday the trail wasn’t really that full , well this portion wasn’t. Though not completely packed with runners or bikers it was busy enough. The bikers in their high-speed outfits and the runners with their neon shirts and stretchy spandex. I felt like a bum in an old school track suit and normal $5 Wal-Mart T-Shirt. I did bring my state of the art $30 mp3 player and on todays run I listened to a little Guns and Roses, David Bowie, and Kid Rock.

You know that feeling when your legs begin to tingle and they feel more like attached sandbags with feet, well I felt that in about two minutes. But I hung on and began my task to get back into shape…again. My run was not very long, a couple miles at most and it was not fast at all but it’s a start.

Below I’ve posted some pictures from the same trail but a different part.

Now to just get out there every day till it feels good again.

Note this top picture is the only I actually took. The rest can be found online.